Incident with Scissors (Or, The Costs of Cutting Corners)

My Incident with Scissors (or, The Cost of Cutting Corners)

The most unlikely muse for a self development blog entry was a fairly recent memory of my experience involving an incident with scissors and my hair.

Usually, like most ordinary folk, I pay someone to cut my hair. My hair is rather unremarkable and simple to cut.

It takes the average stylist approximately 5-10 minutes to trim up my hair, which is so fine, that when wet, lies plastered flat against my head that you can practically see all the bumps and curves.

I estimate that it takes about the same time for the stylist to cut my husband’s hair.

What has continually irked me is that I get charged AT LEAST $5-$10 more for the cut than my husband gets charged. “Because ladies’ cuts are more complex,” is one reason I’ve been given.

But I don’t buy it. Because how difficult is it to cut a straight line? My hair is straight, so fine that all of it can be grasped in a baby’s fist – and frankly, three good swipes with the shears oughta do it.

Or so I thought.

For several years, I had wanted to experiment with cutting my own hair. The last straw was when I went to a stylist down in (town which will not be named) in South Carolina, and asked if she could give me a quick trim.

No wash, no styling, no blow-dry – just a couple of quick cuts to get those dead ends off.

She was done in less than 5 minutes. In fact, I hardly noticed any hair on the floor.

Which was interesting.

When I asked how much – expecting her to say, “ oh, let’s call it $5…” maybe even “$8…” – she said, “That’ll be $15.”

I hid my surprise, and handed her a $20 bill.

Expecting her to give me some change.

She gave me a funny look when I kept my wallet open, so, with some embarrassment, I told her to keep the change (which was already in her pocket.).

So, when I went home, I asked my husband how it looked. With a somewhat quizzacle look, he asked “How does what look?” (Emphasis on “what.”)

I said, “My hair!”

He did not notice. He asked, “How much did that cost?” (Emphasis on “that.”)

I told him. It was at that moment I resolved to cut my own hair next time.

The “next time” came a few nights later. It was about 11:00 pm, and I had the courage to pick up the scissors. I had been picturing the look I was after for a long time, so I tipped my head forward, grasped the hair in my hand and hacked away.

When I looked in the mirror, I was pleased.

Until morning, when the light was better.

I saw that the back had a line of a partial cut going from the right side, a little slanted down toward the middle of the back of my head, where the cut abruptly stopped – and the rest of what was left hung below that cut.

“Layered!” I thought. “I inadvertently layered my hair!” But the problem was, it was only layered on one side of my head. And there was absolutely NO WAY that I could replicate what I had done the night before.  At 11:00 pm.

The only thing left to do was to shower and wash my hair, then blow dry it, and curl it up into a sassy flip (which I did, and which hid the slash mark).

Fortunately, my hair grows faster these days than it did when I was a kid – but, the fact of the matter is, at some point I knew I had to go to a stylist and get it cut again.

Which I did.

This wasn’t really my hair… 🙂

And the stylist looked with interest at the last cut, and said something like, “Hmmm. And it looks as though we went with a partial layering last time, did we?”

At which point, I had to either ‘fess up, or lie.

And as much as I don’t always care for ‘fessing up, I despise lying – because that is just not me.

Picture me saying in a breezy and carefree tone of voice, “Oh, yes! You noticed! Thank you darling! We discussed the matter at some length prior to committing to this trend-setting cut – but, frankly, I’ve tired of the style, and would like to once again try the straight cut…”

Of course it wouldn’t work. Fortunately, I was far away from home, where no one who sees me on a day-to-day basis would really notice.

And that whole story, of course, brings me to the point of this post. Now what (you may be asking yourself) does this whole ridiculous story have to do with self development strategies?

Well, not a whole lot at first glance. But, the whole idea of “cutting corners” (a little pun, given the hair cut theme) is actually rather critical in life.

For example, sure, you can say, “Well, I need to do some work on my goals, but I don’t really need to write them down…” (a tad related to my own sorry little tale… Because NOT writing down your goals is cutting an important corner.).

Or, “I want to get some personal development training, but why should I pay someone to help me when there’s so much for free on the internet?” (Answer – again – related to my decision to cut my own hair and save money… “Because you get what you pay for!”)

Or, perhaps you just need to buckle down and just do what the self-development experts advise, and use proven methods of getting the job done and achieving your goals –  and getting them done correctly the first time instead of attempting to reinvent the wheel, cutting corners, or trying to get something for nothing.

One look at my lovely home done haircut would have convinced you! And no, I am NOT posting a photo… 🙂
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